Le Gamin Artificiel

The entertainment industry rules on Reverie, a world founded by Moses Moses as an experiment in corporate-controlled equality. Instead, the experiment has caused Reverie to mutate into a landscape of decadence & class division. Miles above the surface, the ultrawealthy live in orbital homes, watching surface citizens' home-produced videos of sex & extreme violence. The title character, Arti, is the most popular Combat Artist. These futuristic mirrors of professional wrestlers or American Gladiators confront each other in superheroesque battles (altho the Combat Artists' contests are real) within a complex system of honor, ritual & conduct. Arti has reached the height of his fame--equally loved by fans & friends, despised by competitors. However, he's not entirely who he seems to be. When the planetary founder mysteriously returns, The Artificial Kid finds himself embroiled in a power struggle that's not ready for prime time. Bruce Sterling, best known for his nonfiction work, The Hacker Crackdown, & the cyberthriller, Islands in the Net, presents a seminal, vivid & turbulent future. The Artificial Kid is a work of satirical social commentary with the breakneck pace of a Hong Kong action film.